Читать книгу Animal Behavior for Shelter Veterinarians and Staff - Группа авторов - Страница 63

The juvenile period ends with sexual maturity. In female cats, this correlates with the first sign of estrus, which can be as early as 3 to 4 months and as late as 12 months of age. Environmental factors such as the time of year born, exposure to mature tomcats, the presence of other female cats in estrus, and increasing periods of light all influence the age of estrus onset. Male domestic cats reach sexual maturity between 9 and 12 months. In free‐ranging cat colonies, however, a male may not become reproductively active until two or three years of age, when full integration into a colony is achieved (Hart and Hart 2014a). Social maturity is the stage of final transition into adult behaviors such as territoriality and aggression and in domestic cats is thought to occur between 36 and 48 months of age (Landsberg et al. 2013).